WLSU: Love In Real Time

 I want to talk about love in real time, in real life. I want to articulate a practical application of love. With that in mind how about this: Love is a lens through which we look at the world, at our lives, at our selves. In the Christian tradition it is said that God made the world, and that God made humans in God’s image. In practical terms then, to look through the lens of love is to try to find God’s presence in everyone I meet, in every situation in which I find myself – and then to honor that presence with my words and deeds.

This is practical work. Because participating in the love for which we were made takes work even if we were made for it. And we need to say that out loud because when we don’t we get caught up in romantic notions of love as something that comes easy. Then when love becomes difficult, we misidentify and abandon it. “What good is it to love only the people who love you?” Jesus was known to ask, and this is what he was getting at. “Oh, you see God’s presence in people who like you and make your life easier? How nice! Are you interested in something deeper?”